A TRIAL has started this week against a doctor believed to have been behind the first-known 'baby theft' in Spain, in 1969, when dictator General Franco was still in power.
Inés Pérez, 93, agreed three years ago to be placed 'under investigation' by the court to enable her to give a full statement incriminating Dr Eduardo Vela, now 84, in which she revealed he bribed her to fake a pregnancy in order to give her a baby.
The elderly lady, who was infertile, was told that if the child became ill, she was to take her to Dr Vela and not to her usual GP.
Although the case has just come to trial three years after Sra Pérez gave her statement and she is now much more frail than she was then, her illegally-adopted daughter, Inés Madrigal, 48, says her mum has been 'very generous and very brave' in the fight for justice.
Inés Madrigal, now chairwoman of the Murcia regional branch of SOS Bebés Robados ('SOS Stolen Babies'), says she was the first of tens of thousands of children born between 1969 and 1990 who discovered their much-loved parents were not, in fact, their real mum and dad, and that somewhere out there, a biological mum had been grieving for decades for a child she was told had died at birth.
Spain's first 'stolen baby' says her adoptive mother is 'willing to do what she has to do and go where she has to go' to help her daughter bring Dr Vela to justice.
Dr Vela, a retired gynaecologist, testified in 2013, but denied having knowingly participated in the 'baby theft' scandal and having been given money for infants taken from their real mothers and given to other couples who could not have children.
He admits he signed Inés Madrigal's birth certificate, but claimed he used to 'sign things without reading them' as he was too busy in his line of work.
Vela also claims he did not know Inés Pérez, who appears on Madrigal's birth certificate as her biological mother, even though her own medical records say she was infertile.
If found guilty, Dr Vela could face up to 13 years in jail and be ordered to pay Inés Madrigal compensation of up to €350,000.
He may be ordered by the court to pay a civil bail bond in the sum of €465,000 to cover his possible liabilities.
As well as being charged with abduction of a minor, Dr Vela is facing trial for forgery for having signed the papers showing Inés Pérez was Inés Madrigal's real mother.
A racket which started in General Franco's time and continued until 27 years ago, babies born to unmarried mothers, women or couples in poverty or who supported the Republicans – the anti-Franco brigade – had their babies taken from them, often at maternity hospitals run by nuns.
Some of those who had had their babies out of wedlock were told outright that they were 'loose women' and too sinful to bring up a child, whilst others were told their infants had died at birth and were even given empty coffins to take home.
Meanwhile, wealthier, infertile couples, particularly those who supported Franco's régime, were given the 'stolen babies' along with purportedly legal adoption papers or, as in Inés Madrigal's case, forged birth certificates.
Many of the babies, now aged between mid-20s and late 40s, have been reunited with their birth parents, whilst others continue to search for their biological siblings and some mothers who later found out they had been robbed have been trying to find their children for decades.
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